Christian Vs Chinese Religion Essay

Christians and Chinese religions have very different goals and values. The goal of Christianity is to live without sin and hopefully making it to heaven one day and spend eternity in your personal paradise with loved ones. The Chinese also try to live without sins, but there is a bigger stress on humanity. The Chinese live their lives trying to be the best people they can be while honouring their ancestors and hoping that one day they will be honoured in the same way as their ancestors after their passing. There are two fundamental ideas that are not answered directly in either religion and they are how and why we should care about one another, and how do we relate in the grand scheme of things? These need to be interpreted from other teachings

and are quite similar between the two religions.
Both Chinese and Christian religions celebrate ceremonies in large groups and pray together in groups as well. Things like births, coming of age, marriage, death, as well as others are celebrated by getting family and friends together and enjoying the company of others. There are also many annual events from both religions that promote social interactions such as Christmas and Chinese New Year, where gifts are given to family and friends to show love and honour.
However, there are some slight differences between the two religions.

The Chinese look more toward being harmonious, getting along with each other and living in harmony is one of their goals. They are also really big on family and respecting their ancestors. The Chinese have a saying, “Ren” meaning “humankindness” which basically says to be the best person you can be.

Christianity would not have even started up if it was not for social ties. After Jesus was out of the picture, it was up to his followers to meet secretly in each other’s houses and decide they were going to risk their lives to spread the teachings of Jesus. In a Christian household today, parents teach their children to be nice to one another and promote socialization. They also teach their children to pray for others even if they don’t share the same beliefs.

As for the grand scheme of things, as different as the religions are, they seem to have similarities in this category as well. Christians try to live their lives without sin in hope to someday make it to heaven, where they can spend eternity in their own blissful paradise. The Chinese live their lives to be as honourable as they can and maybe someday be honoured like their ancestors, or live on past their deaths to assume roles in the

cosmos.
Again, the religions differ to some extent. The Chinese believe that after death, their ancestors return from the dead annually, and therefore they make food offerings and clean their graves out of respect. Christians on the other hand, believe that death is the end of their life on earth. Once someone passes away, they are expected to go to heaven, sometimes making a stop in purgatory. The family, or community, prays for the person who has passed away to hopefully avoid spending much time in purgatory answering for their sins. Once the person makes it to heaven, they are considered one of God’s angels. There is always the hope to join your loved ones in heaven someday, and therefore we are connected to the grand scheme of things.
In both religions, we get along with with one another and exist for very distinct purposes. In either case there is an ultimate goal. For Christianity, being kind to one another helps to live a life without sin, therefore helps get to heaven to live in bliss for eternity, and helps us become an angel of the lord. In Chinese religions, being kind and respectful to one another helps to become honourable, therefore when they pass, they will be honoured by their ancestors, and hopefully be able to live beyond death to acquire roles in the cosmos.